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7 Social Media Mistakes Your Business Should Avoid
Advertising on social media is a smart move. Most people have social media accounts, and advertising on these platforms is an excellent idea. However, just because social media is popular doesn’t guarantee success. There are potential mistakes that could hinder the company from becoming an online success. Also, social media brand management is a process. Achieving success doesn’t mean it’s over. These are some of the common mistakes that businesses commit when advertising through social media.
1. Thinking that social media is only for younger people
It’s a mistake to think that social media is only for the younger generation. If the business targets older people, social media is still an excellent platform. The truth is that it’s more expensive to advertise on Facebook if the business requests that the ads are targeted towards older people. Facebook is generally more popular for the 55-64 year-age bracket. TikTok is a better platform for advertising to the younger audiences. The point is that advertisers should choose the right platform to advertise and not dismiss social media as only for a certain group of people.
2. Not having a plan
Like any other marketing strategy, advertising on social media requires a plan. It would be a waste of time to use different platforms if there's no plan at all. Anything posted on social media should be a result of thorough planning and not a spur of the moment reaction. It's not a personal account, but a representation of the business. Any activity done via social media could immediately backfire if it’s a result of the lack of planning. From the quality of content to post to the resources to allocate, everything should have a clear plan.
3. Using the wrong standards to determine the success
Some advertisers think that the marketing plan is successful because of the increase in the number of followers on Facebook and Twitter. While it’s important to increase following, it shouldn’t be the basis for success. Like any other marketing strategy, the indicator of success is the general impact on the business. Unless these followers ultimately become customers, the social media marketing strategy isn’t a success yet.
4. Failure to engage
The unique thing about social media is that it provides businesses an opportunity to establish a relationship with the target audiences. It's not a one-way street and like other advertising platforms like television and radio. In social media, the audiences can post a comment, like a post, and share the content. The business also has a chance to respond to the comment and interact with the people. They may also send a direct message, and it would be great to have a quick response. The lack of engagement could be detrimental to the marketing efforts. These people might think that the business doesn’t care about them.
5. Making it about the business all the time
It’s also a mistake to always make it about the business. The content shouldn’t always focus on advertising the products and services sold. There should also be attention given to what the audiences want to hear. Speaking their language is crucial. Responding to social issues, current events, and relevant information would also be helpful. Again, the goal is to have a meaningful interaction. It’s not always about selling the products. Otherwise, these audiences might look for other pages to follow.
6. Relying on automation
While automation is a common feature of social media platforms, businesses shouldn’t rely on them. It wouldn’t be great to always post automatic content on social media accounts. It’s also a problem if no human interaction happens. If there are direct messages, someone from the team should respond to the person right away. Social media is all about interaction, and the lack of it will turn off many people.
6. Failure to establish a social media policy
Social media platforms have a general community policy. However, they also allow individual pages to determine the policies to apply to their accounts. Not having one could be terrible. People who decided to follow the page should understand that there are rules to follow. Failure to do so could kick them out of the interaction. In most cases, it’s important to censor sexist, racist, offensive, and sexually suggestive comments. The business should be inclusive, and discriminatory language has no place.
People who follow the page and leave comments should understand these rules. They also need to have a reminder about the policy to follow and the potential consequences for not doing so. The people on the team who manage the social media accounts should also understand these policies. They have to adhere to what the business decided to set. Otherwise, the company will sound hypocritical. It requires the followers to obey certain rules, but it doesn't do the same.
The consequences of committing these mistakes
When the business decides to advertise using social media platforms, it’s a representation of the company. Never allow the business to be humiliated because of terrible online interactions. It’s quite common even among established brands because of people who have access to the official social media page. They forget that the account is only for official transactions and shouldn't be for personal interactions. Sometimes, the person handling the account becomes too emotional and forget to consider what's best for the brand. The point is that even if there are unwanted interactions and followers with a bad attitude, diplomacy should prevail. Once the followers felt that the business isn't serious, they will leave and look for other brands to patronize. Some of them might not even come back.
Asking for help in social media brand management
Maintaining a social media account isn’t easy. It’s even more difficult if the business intends to use different platforms for advertising. The good thing is that there are agencies that can help with social media brand management. They know what to do so the company can maximize the use of social media marketing. Again, it doesn’t guarantee success, but it would be great to receive help from experts. They understand the platform as well, and they also tried different strategies to boost businesses.
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